HUNTINGTON BEACH — Initially formed out of desperation, the team of Terese Cannon and Megan Kraft continues to show they have more in common than just a love for beach volleyball.
The former national champions during different time periods at USC displayed their growing chemistry over the weekend at the Huntington Beach Open, reaching the championship match of the women’s bracket on Sunday before losing in three sets to top-seeded Kristen Nuss and Taryn Brasher.
“Our goal this weekend was to have a lot of fun and be physical and aggressive, and I feel we kept that consistent all tournament through,” said Kraft, who was seeded third with Cannon. “We felt like that is how we wanted to play, and, although the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, we were happy with finding our identity.”
Cannon is a New York native who became a two-time NCAA beach volleyball champion while at USC from 2016-19, and Kraft came from Torrey Pines High before winning four straight national titles with the Trojans from 2021-24.
They teamed up on the AVP Tour in September of 2023 after Kraft’s partner decided to transition to indoor volleyball, and Cannon’s partner retired. Qualifying for the 2024 Olympics was already well underway, leaving them no opportunity to make up ground.
So, they got busy learning about each other and discovered they not only went to USC, but were both accounting majors and had a twin sibling.
They also played the same position on the sand, left-side blocker, not ideal for beach volleyball teammates, but Kraft made a flawless switch to right-side defender.
“One of the best in the world at it,” Cannon said. “Pretty impressive.”
Cannon and Kraft knocked off the second-seeded Canadian pair of Brandie Wilkerson and Melissa Humana-Paredes in three sets in a semifinal on Sunday.
Wilkerson and Humana-Paredes won silver at the 2024 Olympics, where the U.S. went without a medal for the first time in the history of the event.
Cannon and Kraft then pushed Nuss and Brasher to three sets in the final. Nuss and Brasher are former LSU teammates who represented the U.S. at the 2024 Olympics.
The results from the weekend have Cannon and Kraft excited about a potential run at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“It’s been so fun getting to play with Meg,” Cannon said. “Yeah, maybe our other partnerships didn’t work out under the best circumstances, but it all worked out for a reason because I’ve never had more fun playing with anyone. So, I’m just really excited to keep growing and see how good we can get.”
The top-seeded men’s team of Miles Partain and Andy Benesh beat fellow 2024 Olympians Chase Budinger and Miles Evans in the championship match, 21-14, 21-14.
Partain and Benesh did not drop a set in their four matches at the tournament and hardly trailed.
“We’ve been training more consistently than any year, so that definitely has something to do with it,” said Partain, whose family home burned down in the Palisades fire in January.
Evans said Partain and Benesh didn’t show any hesitation on offense, a sign of confidence.
“They definitely don’t give you a lot of mistakes,” Evans said. “They don’t give you free points, and they seem pretty level-headed throughout the whole match. When we practice against them, it almost looks like they’re bored. They look like they’re just super, super even-keeled all the time, and I think that helps them a lot.”
Benesh, a Palos Verdes native, used his 6-foot-8 frame to produce six blocks in the first set of the championship match, several on the 6-7 Budinger, who played seven seasons in the NBA.
Even more impressive, Benesh has four service aces.
“Andy’s serve was really good,” Partain said. “That got us several points per set.”
After winning the 16-team, single-elimination event in Huntington Beach, Partain and Benesh next head to Florida in two weeks for the 24-team Palm Beach Open.
“We know every time we come out here, we’ve got to play our A-game,” Benesh said. “We’re just trying to compete as hard as we can when we step on the court.”